Motorists in the Wokingham district faced traffic jams, road closures and re-routing as flood warnings and severe flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency along the River Thames and River Loddon.

One of the worst affected stretches was Winnersh and Winnersh Triangle, with the roundabout at Lower Earley Way partially flooded.

The Winnersh Park and Ride was shut and under several feet of water, while half the Showcase Cinema and the Sindlesham Moat House Hotel car parks were submerged.

On the first two days of the new year, the Environment Agency issued 106 flood warnings with alerts on the River Loddon from Swallowfield to Winnersh, and Winnersh to Wargrave.

The floods also forced three residents from Chatsworth Avenue, Winnersh, to dig their own run-off ditches into adjacent fields to divert the fast-flowing waters rising in their drainage ditches.

Chatsworth Avenue resident Pat Rowell said: "The council cleared out the ditches in October and they have worked until New Year's Day but we still have a problem.

"The stream has been behaving well but I'm surprised it came up in places we weren't expecting."

Angela Adams from Lincoln Close added: "It's getting worse and it's frustrating that we have to face this year after year.

"The council put in drains but it has moved the flood and it comes up somewhere else."

Pumps had to be used in Arborfield to drive water out of Church Lane and sandbags were piled high in Walden Avenue in the hope it would stem the tide.

Retired surveyor Albert Hubbard, aged 75, who lives in Wargrave, said he thought flood water there was higher this time than it had been since 1896.

He said: "I built my house 50 years ago and I took a measure of the highest water levels at Shiplake Lock which were recorded in 1896."

Mr Hubbard then raised his ground floor levels well above that high water mark and despite repeated flooding of his land over the years, the water level had never come above his terrace before now.

However, this time Mr Hubbard said his ground floor was flooded.

In nearby Loddon Drive, many people had to be evacuated by firefighters using the brigade dinghy.

Helga Keay, who runs Borough Marsh Stables in Loddon Drive, had to "swim" 30 horses belonging to the Hyde Park Riding School to dry land on New Year's Day when their meadow flooded.

Wokingham firefighters joined Caversham Road fire station's Water Rescue Team last Thursday to rescue stranded motorists in flooded Sandford Lane in Hurst.

Three people were rescued from their vehicle at 3.56pm, after they tried driving through a flooded road.

Later that day, at 7.35pm, the town's crew was called out again to the same place when a male driver was stranded in his Ford Transit van.

Sub-officer Eddie Cardoso, from Wokingham fire station, said: "We'd advise people that if they can't see the road, do not drive through it.

"Our crew was up to their chests in water when we were attending the Sandford Lane incident."

A Wokingham District Council spokesman said last Friday: "We've been putting out sandbags — 3,000 have been sent out over the last couple of days — and we put out advice in October about how people can help themselves.

"But in terms of flood defence, the Environment Agency is responsible for that."

Mark Moon, the district council's acting environment director, said on Monday: "The responsibility for maintenance of all open watercourses rests with owners of properties fronted by ditches or riparian owners.

"Unfortunately, owners do not maintain their ditches on a regular basis, and in some instances, have created constrictions by placing pipes in ditches without authority from the Environment Agency.

"Many of the recent flooding problems relate to high river levels and the fact that the ditches have been unable to discharge into them until the water levels have dropped.

"Where the council identifies a problem with maintenance or an unauthorised restriction, a letter is sent to the frontager advising them of their obligations."

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "The waters around Sindlesham Mill peaked on January 2 at 2pm and in the Twyford area at 7am on January 3.

"This means that the water is going down but it's not receding very quickly and it is still high in a lot of places.

"After the flooding in 2000, a lot of work has been done at the Emm Brook in Finchampstead Road where areas were cleared, and a bridge and fencing were removed to increase capacity of the stream.

"This has been successful and as far as we know the houses there have not been flooded this year.

"There are ongoing investigations of the flooding situation in Sylvester Close in Winnersh and general maintenance is enhancing that.

"This year, studies are being planned in the worst affected areas to see what can be done in the future."

Last week, Bracknell Forest Borough Council teams monitored vulnerable areas and took early preventative action where they could.

The move came after the River Cut — which runs through the borough and is a tributary of the River Loddon — reached high levels.

Last Friday, the borough council closed Bracknell Road between Old Wokingham Road and the A3095 Foresters Way in Crowthorne for emergency repairs to the damaged carriageway caused by the bad weather.

The closure is expected to remain in place until the middle of this week but diversions are in place along Old Wokingham Road and Nine Mile Ride.

For flooding advice, call the Environment Agency's Floodline on 0845 988 1188, or log on to www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodwarnings